A slight change of plan
by potterharry94
Summary: Takeru has gone to the end of his road in the Alternative timeline. Despite saving the world, his friends and beloved's salvation was not found. Just how can he repeat his loop in a world he's not supposed to be in without his childhood friend keeping his existence stable? In his plea, a person from Extra appeared, whether he can help or destroy Takeru's hope is yet to be written..
1. Prologue - What considered as normal

**Prologue : What considered as normal**

* * *

 **Hello everybody, potterharry desu. I know this account name may sound funny to most people but as it's also my first favorite English novel I have ever read I want to keep it at least when writing stories. I still hate the movies series from the 3rd movie and onward though. Anyhow, this is my first time ever writing a story, every feedback is appreciated. As English is only my secondary language, I would be glad to be corrected whether on styles or grammar. Last but not least, I don't own any MuvLuv-related characters or articles. Please, help yourself with this prologue.**

* * *

 **Some Japanese term used:**

 **Sensei = teacher/professor/doctor**

 **Kaa-san = mom**

 **Otou-san = father**

 **Onii-chan = older brother**

* * *

 **October 23, 2001**

 **Shishido Residence**

As I opened my eyes, tiny little amount of light escaping from the shut windows reflected the desk I often use to study and do all the tedious homework. That means it's already morning and signifies the start of a new day. If nothing unexpected happen to my normally perfect biological o'clock, it should be around 6 AM by now. With one of the hands both of which are still in the warm and comfy blanket, I found my cheap smart phone to check the time.

"It's 06:10, still early guess I can stay in bed for another 20 minutes.."

As the monologue of mine finished, I quickly resumed my ritual of napping some more time until getting dressed up for classes.

Sorry for the late introduction as you can see, well, you know, I'm not much of a morning person so some delay is expected I guess? Anyway, the name's Shishido Shinobu, a healthy and normal Japanese male student you can find anywhere in this country of the Rising Sun called Japan.

I've been wondering this for a while now, why is this country synonym with the Rising Sun anyway? I mean, a Rising Sun exists anywhere in the world right? Shouldn't it be more specific like the Rising Red Sun since only my country has a Red sun rise? But one of my American friends says he hates an organization called RRS that obviously involves something about his tax refunds so I guess that name is out of the windows…

Once again, hi there! Sorry for the long sidetrack but let's move back to the topic: Shishido Shinobu desu! The characters are written as 宍戸 忍, my family name in hiragana can be written as **しし** **ど** and the first name is the kanji for stealth or endurance.

Bluntly speaking, Shinobu is just the dictionary form of Shinobi which is known as Ninja to the rest of the world. I wonder what happened during my birth that I got this hilariously rhythm name…

However, thanks to that I somehow get more foreign friends than I could remember at the same time got teased by some nicknames that only stopped recently after attending high school. One of the honorably mentioned names are "SS Shinobu", "SSS human/ningen", "SS class Shinobi", and so on.

Now that I think about it, my presence is pretty thin so maybe those nicknames are somewhat accurate

While I'm having a pleasant conversation about my name with no one in particular, my eyes opened again and see the phone having number 06: 24 on its interface.

"Guess it's time to dress up!"

In the **Hakuryou** high school I'm going to, uniform for male is pretty simple: just a trousers and shirt both in white color. The female counterpart is kind of similar if not for the skirt and the weird armguard thingy on the shirt's shoulder.

Really, are we going use those armguard to defend the girls from possible attacks or something because those things are freaking huge.

Some more inner-conversations are finished at the same time with my preparation. I grab the bag already on my desk and head out for the main gate.

"I'm off…"

The sentence was directed to no one in particular, just to serve as a sign that I left the house.

—

Usually my scooter will accompany me to the school on top of a hill but I want to exercise my legs once in a while. The unchanging appearance of the school I'm about to leave when this term is over finally graces me after climbing its almost 30 degree angel street.

More and more familiar faces emerge as my legs bring me to my classroom - **class 3-B**. I laid the bag on the lovely table in the left corner of the front row seats. As for the reason I have this front seat experience, not voluntarily of course, is because our beloved homeroom teacher - often called by **one classmate** as **Marimo-chan** – once said to me:

"Shishido-kun, you have a habit of sleeping and neglecting in class right?"

"Shishido-kun, that's no good you know. But don't worry; your sensei will do all in her power to insure you focus in class!"

… And back to the present with my place assignment, I wonder why only I got the short end of the stick? The **aforementioned classmate** also sleeps in class a few times, not as much as me though, but **he** gets away scot-free.

"Well, not that it bothers me that much anyway"

Since today is not my class duty, I idly rest my face on the cool desk surface and enjoy the last few minutes of freedom until the restriction called homeroom started.

Seems like today's duty falls on the class representative **Sakaki Chizuru** and airhead **Kagami Sumika**. The pair can be called total opposite of each other: serious and carefree. Well, in case of Kagami I don't know whether if it approaches the point of too carefree or just brain-dead. As if to disapprove of all my belief, they are chatting joyfully in harmony while cleaning the black board.

"That's how humans are huh …"

Humans are strange creatures that get along well with fellow beings with the opposite personalities. If you put a genius and an idiot living together in one room, chances are that they will become BFF before you know it. On the other hands, two geniuses will get in a quarrel as soon as they look at each other no matter what fields they specialize in.

The examples may be a little extreme but true nonetheless. Although the information is from Wkipedia and various random researches I read in my free time, my life experience tells me those findings are credible.

If you find someone you hate base on your instinct, 80% chances are that you and the hated have some part of personalities in common. One possible suggested reason is that humans hate seeing their ugly selves on display so when you see someone with your exact ugly part of self, your instincts tell you to despise the other party.

Some more time passed with my self-explained philosophy, **Jinguuji-sensei** started homeroom by greeting the class then proceeding to roll-call each student. It caught my attention when our teacher just skipped over **her favorite student** aka the one always called her **Marimo-chan**

 _Must have a reason for absence_

Seeing the uncaring expression of his childhood friend, I concluded he must have notified his absence beforehand. **The guy** just went to class normally yesterday after all.

—

Classes went on as normal and my eyes lids are starting to give in if not for the bell noticing me lunch time is ready. I lazily open the sandwich made with function prioritized over appearance: white loaf with ham, thin slice of bacon, cucumber and tomatoes. Three slices are all I need for lunch since I have no club activities after school nor do I exercise much except during PE or athletic events.

"Aye yai yai yai yai..."

Finishing lunch with a thirsty mouth, I reluctantly move my body to the cafeteria to get something drinkable.

On the way, I spot **Mitsurugi Meiya** along with **Yoroi Mikoto** among the lineup for the special meal set. Both are also my fellow classmates but they are all special cases to say the least.

 _Must be here to experience commoner's cafeteria_

 **Mitsurugi** is the heir of the world famous **Mitsurugi** Mega Corporation and a Mega celebrity currently in school or may be even in the world. Reason she transferred to this nameless school is unknown to everyone asides from my class. It's obvious that she has the hots for the **missing student** in my class today so that explains itself.

 _Still if my observation is not wrong, she should have already finished high school level academic_

Yeah, I did notice this just by coincidence that she answered all questions thrown from teachers flawlessly despite not having textbooks or any class materials. Must've meant she values **the male** in question quite highly to come back to attend classes not necessary for her.

 _None of my business though_

Thinking about gossips and stuffs like this is normal for any students but for me to show interest in matters involving girls is indeed surprising. After making a mental note not to mess with anything involving women, I once again move myself to get some throat-relief liquid.

As I started moving again, however, someone slightly bum against my chest area.

"Sorry, I need to go get something!"

Speaking of the devil, **Yoroi** just ran off after offering some passing remark to me. I wordlessly sigh watching the flat-chested girl go to do whatever she needs. Yoroi may just be, how should I say it nicely, the weirdest weirdo I will ever meet in my life. The way she behaves and talks is just a "in my pace" and "talk to the hand" declaration to her listeners. She's not a bad person by heart though, even I with my grumpy attitude can still sympathize her.

 _Must be tough having an adventurous dad_

After successfully getting my favorite orange juice, I stroll back and hope to have some spare time to nap on the tiny table.

—

Just in time for the infamous **Ayamine Kei** to appear before me and try to go back from her rooftop lunch. Remember about the human nature of hate and like I said earlier? This is a prime example of my experience. There has been no exchange of any kinds between us of course. But my guts tell me I can't stand her at all.

She is always calm and composed, some might say too composed to even be called as a perpetual poker face state. She hardly expresses her opinions or feelings except for matters concerning our class representative. I know I am slightly tardy and somewhat am like her but I at least state my opinions if the matters concern me.

Now that sounds like some excuses and I bet 95% of people listening to this will say I'm just like her. Well, as my policy to always keep calm and not being disturbed by the opposite sex, I will keep my distance from her unless in absolute necessity.

—

Waiting for all the classes to pass away, I try my best to deliver the minimum attention to the teachers saying whatever the lectures were. I can just pick them all up when coming home and right now I need some serious sleeps.

One of the few hobbies I pick up during high school is manga and anime; lately I have developed an interest in Visual Novel even. That also explains my lack of sleeps since I just finish my very first VN "Face/Stay Night". I must say the writer did an excellent job of making me stay up all night.

"Shishido-kun, it appears you are staring at an empty blackboard. Would you mind telling me the contents of my lecture which I explain through oral means just now?"

The voice of my physics teacher, **Kouzuki Yuuko** , snapped me out of my day-dreaming at the same time moved my focus back to the present.

"I'm sorry sensei, can you say it again? I was thinking about something"

 _Resistance is futile, may as well just say half the truth_

Now that was a blunder in my part, usually it's not me but **another unfortunate soul** that gets all her attention. However with **him** gone and my slacking face, this is an unavoidable outcome.

"Hoho, very amusing indeed. Let us have a chat after class is over then"

 _Hah, well, I guess a private chat with_ _ **Yuuko**_ _-sensei is normal to me_

—

After class ended, I head to the physics labs where I can see **Yuuko** -sensei in her natural habitat. The room is as shady as ever: strange tubes, suspicious liquid, unknown substance, and so on fill the room. To the untrained eyes, this is what normal people called a "Mad Scientist Room".

Guess the scientist part is correct at least.

"Ah, you're here"

"Of course I'm here sensei. So what is the topic for today?"

I deliver my question directly to the heart of matter. **Yuuko-sensei** has a habit of beating around the bush and manipulates people after all. Getting to the point is the only way I can think of to have an effective conversation with her.

"Che, you're no fun as usual…"

"I am funny enough by myself sensei. Still, thanks for the compliment"

"Right, right… Are you feeling alright? I know you're tardy and fall asleep during class but this is the first I see you sleep with your eyes open"

"Was I really?"

"Really"

"Ah, then so be it. There's no problem sensei. Just some stuff keeps me up last night that's all"

 _Can't tell her I stay up to finish a VN after all_

"Is that so… Got the feeling your reason is a silly one but whatever. Let's move on to the real topic"

 _Foreshadowing as usual huh_

"As you know, your third year in junior high is almost over. Got any plans after that?

"I remember putting down the _Going to a public university_ in my future plan sheet you gave out though?"

"Yeah, I remember that. But don't you think it's kind of a waste?"

I tilt my head as her out of nowhere question puzzles me.

"Don't play dumb, you know what I'm talking about. As a genius I can detect my own kind, you know"

"Hah? You overestimate me too much sensei"

"So you say but don't you do well in every class despite putting hardly any efforts? You can deceive other teachers but not me, hehe. I don't know what you do at home but judging by your slacking attitudes and the contrary tests results I can say you're holding yourself back on purpose, right?"

"…"

"Jackpot! Those previous chats I had with you are just to figure out your character you know? Well, don't worry I won't dissect your brain, not yet anyway kukuku"

"Aye yai yai yai yai. You got me sensei. I admit I never become serious in school matters but I assure you this: all my abilities are average at best. I'm just too lazy to make any real effort, that's all"

"Hmm…"

 _Judging by her mood and body language, she must be observing to see if I'm lying or not. Of course I'm telling the truth, not the whole truth anyway_

"That's weird, I can't detect any lies in your statement. Either you're a world-class liar or I could be wrong this time…"

"Because I'm speaking the truth sensei. Assuming you're correct though, what plan do you have for me?"

"Glad you're interested"

 _Of course I have to pretend to be or this conversation will go nowhere_

Abandoning the hard-thinking posture, **Yuuko-sensei** said with a big grin on her face.

"How about becoming my internship assistant while you're attending college?"

Once again she caught me off-guard and no words escape my mouth

"You know that I'm in need of an assistant right? I would rather have one that I already know and understand me. Besides, when you're in college, internship is a must for student to have a real job after finishing their study up there too. What better internship than one with a beautiful and glorious genius like your sensei?"

Her offer is indeed very beneficial. Working with a world-renown genius in physics like sensei will certainly boost my resume like no other. If everything goes well, even that Mitsurugi Corporation will offer me a job with unimaginable salary.

As I calmly think about her tempting offer, another candidate comes to mind. **He** knows about **Yuuko** -sensei even more than me despite his average intellect. Not like a symbol of "average" like me could say anything though.

"What about **your favorite student** in my class? **He** must've been a better candidate if you're looking for one you're comfortable with"

"Huh? Who're you talking about? I find you the most interesting in **class 3-B** "

 _Hm? Does this mean her interest shift again? Well, as if I can begin to understand a genius_

"Don't try to run away from the topic okay? Despite your thin presence and unnoticeable characteristic, I know you suppress your inner-self for some reason. Of course I know nothing beyond your school profile but that is no excuse for doing things in a half-assed way"

"Half-assed is a little too much though…"

"Sorry I may step out of line. It's just that I find it quite irritating just looking at you. So I get carried away a little. Maybe seeing a fellow genius being humble and staying low makes me lose my cool"

"Don't worry about it sensei. Despite not being a genius, I will consider your offer since it's a good one after all"

"Good, that's all for today. You're free to go now, no need to thank me"

As I rise from the sloppy chair in the physics labs, a voice called out as a final reminder

"Shishido, we humans can do nothing to change the past. All we can do is to live the fullest in the present hoping for a brighter future"

"…Thank you, sensei. See you later"

As I exit the room, her mumbling caught my keen ears: "And I tell you no need to thank, haiz…"

—

"Hmm? Shishido-san?"

The archery club is just on my way to the front gate so I by chance met the mascot of class 3-B, **Tamase Miki**.

"Hi there, **Tamase** -san. Going back from club activities?"

"Ah, yes. We just finished the practice so I'm about to go back. What are you doing so late Shishido-san?"

Her questions are reasonable since I'm in no club hence no need to stay behind after class.

By the way, it may be late to introduce her but here is my other classmate **Tamase Miki**. She is famous for being a cat girl in our school thanks to a certain mad scientist I just had conversation with and **her fellow collaborator**. Asides from her catchy appearance, she is the most sociable person in my class. I have never seen quarrel with anyone at all. She is friendly to everyone even to the easily forgettable me. She is clearly different from the girls being friendly for the sake of keeping face or looking down on other people. I can feel a certain charm like that of an innocent kid from her.

 _If I ever have a child, I sure as hell wish that kid has the same innocence as **Tamase**. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a lolicon or whatever people call it. I just like pure and innocent things. Being exposed to this harsh reality, I adore the cuteness and adorableness of things that still know no terror of the adult world. Yes, in other world, I just love small and tiny innocence little things or beings! Yup, yup, I'm totally not a lolicon!_

"Shishido-san?"

"Oops, sorry **Tamase** -san. Just lost in thought about something. I just had a chat with **Yuuko** -sensei and about to head home now"

"Ah, so that's what it was. Something about the matter in her class right? Are you alright Shishido-san"

 _Such a nice girl, even when I know she probably does not care that much about me. She still asks anyway_

"Yeah, nothing serious. She just wants to give me some advices and suggestions, that's all" – I add some shoulder shrugs to express the point.

"That's good to hear! Don't push yourself too much Shishido-san. Ah, I have to go back to my locker to change or the manager will scold me for being late again. See you tomorrow, Shishido-san!"

"Okay see ya"

I wave my hands to match the same actions as the cat girl before she hurriedly went to her locker room. Her figure retreated just as fast as her morning run for the homeroom deadline.

—

The lines **Yuuko-sensei** told me vibrates again and again in my mind as the road keeps expanding the further I walk down the hill I'm so familiar with.

 _A half-assed way, huh…_

Sensei is totally correct about that one point. I have never been serious in anything since… I don't know, for so long now. Be it academic or athletic matters, I just do the minimum to get by. My only noticeable strong point is my English language skill. I must say it's just because Japanese are bad at English and my friends on forum are mostly English speakers so I appear to be more fluent than the standard students.

 _The past cannot be changed…_

She is also correct about this part. No matter what humans want, time will not stop for them. There was an estimate of how big a time machine will be if it is ever possible to build one: around the size of the solar system. That's how ridiculous the idea of changing time is; to the point it is more likely to find another habitable Earth-like planet and settle there in the next 10 years.

… _But there's no excuse._

But not this one, this is where she is wrong. As far as common sense goes, the past may serve little to no excuses for the actions one take at the present. In my case, however, as long as I cannot change the past my present has a perfect excuse. She must have looked over my school profile and know a little about my family circumstance.

Unfortunately, that is not my reason for slacking off. My reason dates back even further than the events on those papers. Although the events did help me in some ways, they are by no means related to my attitudes in everything. In order to maintain a normal life I will have to hold back, both my abilities and my emotions.

 _Sorry Sensei. I still want to live for someone else after all. After I finish my own business, I might be able to go all out with you to hell_

Despite little care I have for my well-being, I still have at least one thing worth protecting. To that end, I will continue my normal daily life until "he" is old enough to walk his own path in life. To keep watching over him until he's strong enough by himself, I can't do otherwise before that. To tell the truth, if not for that reason I don't care if I die tomorrow. I have too much life and death experience after all…

"Onii-chan, welcome home!"

As if to interrupt my train of thoughts, a clear and familiar voice came from below me.

 _Time sure flies when you don't care about it_

The statement threw at not only the rate at which I arrived home, but also at how fast the little man before me grows. Seven years ago he could not even turn around on the bed by his own.

"Oh, I'm back. You went home on your own again?"

"Yuppu, since didn't see you at all for so long… onii-chan finally got a girlfriend and forget about me. Hik hik (teary eyes effect)…"

"Now even you sound like Kaa-san…

Aye yai yai yai yai.

Whatever, let's go inside. I'm gonna fetch us dinner"

"Yayyy !"

I still don't get why he is always so excited about my meal. Everything I do just screams "practical" and food is no exception.

—

After dinner and some downtime in the living room, my daily routine of immersing in the bathtub is the next in line. On the way out, my face reflects on the mirror I forgot to look at this morning.

My hair is always in the 7-3 style, with the 7 portion leans to the left.

My face is, well, typical of a Japanese I can say that. Kaa-san always talks about how handsome Otou-san looks and claims I look like him the most.

Actually I can see the resemblance but he does not have dead-fish eyes or 30% of his hair turning gray like an old man at a teenage age at least. This is actually one of my biggest lament on the physically traits. I got my first gray hair in the 3rd grade. On a nice and beautiful day, Kaa-san just up and dropped me the bomb shell:

"Ara ara~~ Shinobu-chan has a gray hair. How rare ~~"

 _Kaa-san~~ You just crush an 8-year-old's innocence right there you know~~_

Hahhhh… Okay! Depressing time's over! Let's see what new series just air on TV today!

And off to me escaping reality

—

 **21:23 - Same day**

Usually this is far from bedtime for a young body like mine. But thanks to the all-nighter I pulled off yesterday, finishing homework and locking up the house are the last tasks I can muster with the fading consciousness.

The phone with its 24h time display was tossed near my bed to serve the convenience of being grabbed again tomorrow. There's never been an alarm o'clock of any kind in my room since 5th grade. My biological clock just kicks in whatever time I set my mind for a new morning. My family might call it abnormal but it really is just a normal mental condition of humans before all the any waking devices were invented.

After setting a time for tomorrow in my mind, I clear my head and go to sleep.

As the last fun fact, do you know that humans dream when they are in deep sleep? In other words, if you can avoid deep sleep you can escape dream! But really, I think humans dream all the time, it's just whether we remember the dream or not.

Of course I have reason for this out-of-nowhere information: I don't remember any dreams since 5th grade by just emptying my thoughts before sleeps.

—

 **? time - ? place**

The next moment my consciousness wakes me up; I am in a place with nothing whatsoever. What I mean by nothing is that everything was covered with a black color with no horizon in sight.

With the logical brain's deducing this as a mere dream, I spotted a figure showing its back to me. Its position is slightly to the left to where I stood

It was not hard to see the figure, more like it was hard to describe and even harder to accept the nature of this emerging silhouette:

 _Judging by the crouching posture and the body distribution, it should be a male... a young male at that. But… why a tight body suit? There're at least two things wrong with this scenario: no fetishes of mine involve spy suit and, most importantly, I don't swing that way. Hey me, do a better job won't you. At least make it a girl!_

The man in question remained unmoved oblivious to all my self-criticism and remarks. On closer inspection, thanks to the suit his body displays its fit proving the male have some kind of training either at athletic areas or even military. Although not as gross as those macho fighting game characters, he has muscle equal to one going to the gym often possesses.

"… **Sumika…Sumika** …"

I was almost startled by the sudden sound the man produced.

 _Speaker?_

As I closed the distance to listen more carefully to what he said, something else entered my field of vision.

 _A… girl? I meant it as a joke but a girl really just pop out of nowhere! Well, actually she's currently in the male's arms but… Wait a minute!?_

Setting aside the curious pink body suit the girl's wearing, there's no way I can misidentify that happy slash stupid face. Actually she's looking quite normal and peaceful now, may be because she's in some kind of sleep.

 _Oi oi, this is not even a normal dream anymore_

After deducing who the other party is based on how he called her and finally almost matching physical traits of the possible answer with this suspicious-looking man, I called out in a voice loud enough for him to hear:

" **Shirogane**?... You're **Shirogane Takeru** … right?" – The name of the missing student in class today is what started our conversation

* * *

 **Author's Note** :

How's everyone's first impression of my original character? Please let me know what you think by reviewing. I tried to make a chain reaction in the way my story and conversations progress at the same time as introducing the main casts. Doing so while also introducing a bit of the OC's personality and circumstances really took a toll on my brain.

IMO, the problems with having OCs is that they will somehow overshadow the main casts if not handled carefully. That's why this will be the only chapter seen from this Shishido Shinobu's POV for a long time. After this prologue, POV will shift back to main characters; but ready to be surprised at what an OC can do even off-screen. Hey, that means anyone out there not interested in reading a non-canon character will rejoice, right?

To all readers patiently finish all my ramblings, I will tell you a secret: an ending has been envisioned for this FF as in how the "Cherry Blossom" ends like how I want it. Whether I can finish writing up to that point depends on my work schedule and your support. However, I will try to write one chapter/week if possible.

So long fellow fans!


	2. Chapter 1 - His reason for return

**Chapter 1** **: His reason for return**

* * *

 **Good day to all readers. There's always a certain point in life when we all enjoy and love the overcome-all-obstacle-by-sheer-willpower characters archetype. As we get older, our preferences often change and think of those characters as childish or even ridiculous. However, don't you think there are always certain things only they can do?**

* * *

 **Shirogane Takeru POV**

 **January 2002 – Cherry blossom trees monument**

I stand in front of the monument we built together. The monument we built to honor and immortalize all the soldiers giving up their lives for the future of humanity.

In the silence, I found myself reviewing all the activities I have done. Coming to this insane world, I have first-handedly witnessed the fall of humanity. After seeing that, I had a sense of sadness I could not describe. I can still feel the pain in my chest at that moment just like yesterday.

Then I convinced myself it is my responsibility to save this world since I'm the only one who'd seen Armageddon. But because of that, I lost sight of something much simpler and closer to me: my friends.

"Thank you… Because of you all… I feel like I finally understand what a soldier means… I'll never forget what you have taught me…"

"… Looks like you haven't disappeared yet"

When I turned around, Yuuko-sensei along with Kasumi is already standing behind me. Sensei asked if I still have any regrets left.

My mind comes to a standstill; I don't know whether it's due to me being afraid to think of the subject or not. So I just blurted out the first random thing coming to mind

"… I guess, not getting to make you cry"

Sensei felt into silence with my remark. Although it is random, I did promise the other world's Yuuko-sensei I would do that after all.

After laughing off my comedy attempt, she said:

"Welcome home"

I was taken back for a brief moment. Sensei had never come just to talk to me right after an operation. When I try asking her why the change now, she brushed off the matter lightly. Does this mean she's felling sad about me leaving? Hu!... no way… no matter what happened… she wouldn't do that… probably.

She handed me her handgun saying it would be fine to kill her now. Since I'm not a casualty conductor anymore, even if I kill this Yuuko the other sensei will not be affected. She also told me no one will remember I ever exist in this world after I disappeared so feel free to end her life.

"I told you to save whining and complaining until the end, right? This is the end"

So she said but I use my hand not to grab the gun but to push it away. I know this world still needs her and my childish tantrum will not help but just create more sufferings. I also know sensei is not weak to suffer easily; she is the furthest thing from that.

However, sometimes I wonder if that is her real personality. If she's only a cold-hearted scientist, she wouldn't have drunk herself stupid and cried to me back then… wouldn't have checked the Captain's sister's well-being… and wouldn't made time for Sumika and me to be alone.

But I know one thing for certain: she's a strong woman who leads others and never shows her weaknesses. Even more so when she locks all the sorrows inside never complaining to anyone.

While thinking how fortunate I am to be one of her students, she asked what subject I want to discuss until I disappear. Although nothing in this world interests me anymore, I still want to know what will happen to the peaceful world I messed up when escaping responsibility.

She informed me that everything I broke should be fixed and I should be back on October 22nd. Although she does not know which world I would be sent to, she's confident all the damage I caused over there is being reconstructed.

With my remaining worry cleared, I once again think about my comrades. Unlike me who know the future, they kept on fighting without asking or being told. They gave up their life in exchange for a future to give to the people of this world.

To divert from my depressed mood, I tried asking sensei what will happen in the future. She told me all our actions and achievements have earned humanity a major victory. Especially the Intel we gathered from the Primary Objective should have bought a buffer time span thirty years. She went on and talked about something about human infighting after that.

To be honest, I don't care about anything in this world anymore. Humans wage war in all worlds so it is no surprise for different countries' interest to collide with each other. What I really want to know is that the sacrifices we made have meaning.

At the same time, I can feel my vision's turning white. Sensei told me that my time is up

"…goodbye, bratty savior…"

After nodding to her, I moved my sight to Kasumi. I told her to keep helping sensei and talk about everyone with pride. She told me she would go to the sea and make a lot of memories when the world is peaceful. She said she would never forget about me.

"…And I did love you…"

"Eh?"

Ah, I see. I'm such a dumb ass. I can't believe I couldn't notice feelings of any girls close to me at all. All I could offer her is my gratitude for her feeling. She bid me farewell after our silent stare into each other's eyes

"…see you… later…"

"…yeah… see you…"

And with that everything is covered with whiteness

—

 **? time - ? place**

I opened my eyes expecting to see the familiar room in my old world. However, what I can see is a world filled with an ominous black color.

"Umm, hello? Anybody here?"

My voice echoed into the void space with no replies coming back

"Eh? Could it be… sensei's prediction was wrong?"

A scary thought surface but I tried to suppress it and calmed down. In the process, I should probably go around to check the surroundings.

As I'm walking, the silence and the blackness reminds me of the time when I was stuck in the Fubuki during the Mount Tengen evacuation.

"Meiya…"

Yes, during the incident Meiya and I rode in the type 97 together. I saw for the first time how strong the girl is. She cares for the people deeply, to the point of going against orders just to protect a single civilian. Her position within the UN serving as her responsibility and contradiction does not sway her from her love of the people.

She is the perfect replica of her twin sister in that she prioritizes the wellbeing of the people. As the black side of the same coin, she still could not meet her white counterpart despite sharing the same feeling and emotion.

And such a girl fell in love with a guy like me. I can understand the reason if this is the loop we spent so much time together. But I don't get why such a noble and honest girl would love me in this loop. All I do is keep getting paranoid about a doom future that may not even exist to even take notice of her feeling. Moreover, after my breakdown she was pushed down and about to be violated by me.

"… _At the very least… I want you… the man I love… to kill me"_

Everything does nothing to change the fact about the confession she made before I pulled the trigger. I could not even offer her a word of apology and instead ending her life. I even had the nerve to ask her to become my noble confidant just before we sortied. Why am I always so blind about the feelings of others? I'm beginning to think the other girls also hold the same feelings as they sacrificed themselves to keep me safe in the original Hive.

 _If only I could do better just to notice my surroundings, I could have responded to their feelings. Just a word of thank you or apology is nothing difficult for me to do. Since my feelings are with Sumika this time_

Sumika is my childhood friend, my lover, the one whose love for me transcends time and space. I never considered her as someone that precious in the old world simply because she's always by my side. I only know the difference when she was not found in the BETA world.

In a sense, I feel relief that she would not have to suffer in such a world. On the contrary, I only learnt how close she's been with me in both world; and in both of them I regard her existence as a norm before losing her. Oblivious to all her painful experience, she still loves me dearly. Her love is enough to pull me away from other worlds to be with her despite being reduced to only a brain and spine.

Looking back at all that, I wonder how little I have done for her. When she went insane, I can only give her a hug to calm her down. Even the said insanity is partly my fault since she witnessed the other me's death. When she's afraid I'm going to hate her knowing her past, I can only offer some cheesy lines and a condolence sex. Of course I love her but sleeping together like that makes me think we're just licking each other's wound. Lastly, the only thing I could give her was the crude wooden Santa rabbit doll which she held until her last breath.

"… Ah… What the…"

My vision blurred as the same time I recalled those memories. The black scene before me seems to distort due to the amount of water accumulated.

Back at the monument, I told myself not to cry or I would shame what all the fallen soldiers stand for. Within this atmosphere, however, all my past and experience surfaced and I couldn't control my train of emotions. No matter how hard I try, I'm still no match against sensei at keeping a cool mask.

"Eh?"

My feet suddenly touched something very heavy and halt my movement. As I looked down, what I discovered is the person I'm thinking about: Sumika with her pink 00-unit suit. She's lying down on the black ground that seems to suck her into the earth. Her pose is just like the last time I remember in the escape pod: a peaceful sleeping posture with both hands placed on her chests. Even the Santa rabbit is resting within her slender hands.

"…Ah… Ahh… Ahhh…"

My brain tries to tell me this all cannot be real to no vail. Within this weird black space, combined with all the emotions I suppressed since my last operation, I prompt to act based on emotions.

"Sumika… Sumika… SUMIKA!"

I crouched down with both knees and held Sumika's still warm body into my arms. As I said her name, tears that I thought were already dried flows down on her face.

" _So, now you really are out of regrets…?"_

The question sensei just asked, the question I tried to avoid once again comes to mind. I see, I really was afraid to answer this question since I know, deep down, there's still something I wish to do.

 _I want to… keep everyone alive_

That's right; I just want everyone close to me to be happy. Such a simple reason and it took everyone's lives for me to recognize. Once again, it is too late for me to do anything by the time I found the answer.

"…Sumika…Sumika…"

As I continued calling Sumika's name, a voice from above my head reached my ears

"...gane… Shirogane Takeru, right?"

I don't know whether it was because of my state of confusion or because of all the tears I'm shedding, but I can't seem to respond to the voice. A sense of regret and resentment hit me as I feel a pain in my chest. A pain that feels like a very big sword has cut deep inside me.

"Hey! Aren't you Shirogane Takeru?"

"SHUT UP!"

As the voice raised its volume seemingly annoyed that I ignore it, I also shout at the top of my lung. I don't know the exact reason but I get angrier and angrier the more I hear my name.

"YES, I am Shirogane Takeru, the one who always brags about world salvation!"

"AND SO WHAT? WHAT DOES THAT ALL MATTER AT THE END!? Why did I never think about it!? Why do I always act like a BRAT acting as if he knows everything but found out he knows nothing until it's all over!? I did not even know how everyone feels about me! I should have known, right at the beginning, the reason I felt such pain and regret right after waking up in that fucked-up world. It's not the world's end that I'm sad of; it's the PEOPLE in them that I care about! It's always my close friends! Their demises are what cause me to save that world so that they don't have to leave the planet or face its doom together with me!"

I paused a brief moment to catch my breath

"AND THEN WHAT? AT THE END, THE RESULT IS THE SAME OR EVEN WORSE THAN THE PAST LOOPS! One of them could have lived if I just take my time choosing my fancy… BUT NO! ALL OF THEM HAD TO DIE FOR MY REDICULOUS GOAL OF WORLD PEACE!"

I shouted with everything my strength could offer to match with the feeling about my incompetence. I don't even know if I can face them anymore in the peaceful world with my current conscience

"... And I couldn't even protect my lover after finally finding her… My feeling for her is nothing compared to what she has for me…"

Like a puppet with its strings cut, my voice finally dropped as my eyes once again move to Sumika's face. For this once, I don't care if she wakes up right now and punch me with thousands of her Milky Punch. For every mistakes I have made, that is the least I can suffer. Not to mention the joy of seeing her expressions animated again will fill me with enough joy to take on any kinds of pains.

"… Why am I not smart!? Why am I always such an idiot…"

But there is nothing I can do now. I'm not a casualty conductor anymore. Even Sumika is not there to keep my existence stable anymore. I'm not a genius like sensei so there's no way I can find a way back to remedy my mistakes. If only someone more suitable was chosen to be in my role, that person could have done everything that I could not.

Then a moment of silence returns this place to how it was before my outbreak of emotions.

"…Aren't you misunderstanding something?"

"Eh!?"

Just when I thought the voice had disappeared among my shouting, some form of question was thrown my way just serve to confuse my thoughts.

"How old do you think you are right now to not be a brat? You're not even out there working in society yet and you claim you should have known everything? Pfff !"

Although the voice has a point, my amazement still keeps me from closing my mouth let alone speaking

"And you know what? Humans can never fully understand each other unless expressing their thoughts directly. What makes you think you're so special you can understand others' feelings?"

"!.. But…"

What the echoed voice said sounds like something sensei would say. It is how the world works regardless of my opinions. Of course I understand that much, but I can't shake the guilt of not knowing their feelings until it's too late

"More importantly, do you really want to be smart?"

"Eh?"

Before I can voice my standing, it continue with another question

"What you said is that you want to be smart, right? Do you think you can still maintain your own identity when you change into someone you're not?"

I see, it must be talking about the price I got to paid to become a smart person. If that could help my beloveds, I'm willing to go to any length.

"Assuming you become smart, do you think your lover could still be the same?"

"!"

I shuddered at the what-if question that could become a reality.

"In other words, your identity defines what happens around you. So there's no guarantee you can have the same experience if you try to become someone you are not. Are you sure you still want to be smart?"

With my sight still on Sumika, I cannot imagine another person's face will replace hers. I also cannot imagine a me without knowing my entire close the friends. Everything I have gone through, although painful and hard time, I do not want to forget them.

"…No, I do not …"

Because that is the proof of my existence

"Indeed, most of the time being smart or stupid is not the cause of a problem."

The voice paused as if to think about something

"Moreover, smart people cannot do everything they want. Sometimes, they even envy those they call idiots"

"Eh?"

"Not-too-smart people tend to act based on their feelings, not logics. That's why they don't bother considering every little detail before their actions like too-smart ones."

"…"

"There will be always things smart people back away from while the idiots keep charging head on. Although it is rare, they do succeed."

At this point, I already consider this voice to be some kinds of self-advisor in this place. May be all my emotions go haywire and my head offers me something to not fall into despair. Although it feels like I heard this voice somewhere before

However, I must admit what it said makes sense. I keep on saying I would save the world without any basics. With just sheer willpower, I really did save that world… not completely…

"Lastly, from all the waterfall you display, it is hard to think that your feelings are not worth the same amount. So do you still want to be an idiot and keep doing what you always do? Or maybe the smart guy version?"

Despite the hint of sarcasm in the voice, it helps me find my resolve

"…I know my answer now!"

That's right! I don't need to care about all the complicated stuffs about Quantum Physics Theory sensei brags about. It's never in me to think about difficult matters. What I had, have and will always have is my determination to do what I have to do. With that and that alone, I will come back to finish what I started. I won't be able to be at ease if I left all my friends' feelings unanswered. And I will definitely save Sumika this time in order to prove my love does not lose in strength to hers. I am the only one who can do it, since I am the Shirogane Takeru that my friends know about.

" _Do everything you want with the strongest will possible"_

The lines sensei always reminds me once again fuels my will. I try and focus all my thoughts wishing to come back to that not-so-pleasant world. My feelings for those laid down their lives for humanity, those in the rear awaiting victories, those still fighting beside me, and… those dear to me, occupies all my thinking process.

"Wait for me, Sumika. I will definitely keep you safe this time!"

To the girl worth more than my whole world, I offered her a new promise I know I will keep

"…Could it be!?"

Shortly after, a familiar occurrence happen to me: My and Sumika's bodies are glowing white. The beautiful white color reminds me of our white Christmas we spent together.

"This time, I will try to make a better Santa rabbit for you"

Another promise was made by me to the still sleepy other party. I wonder if how I feel right now is similar to her feelings watching me sleep every morning.

Although I have no ideas which worlds we are being sent to, one thing is clear: we will always be together.

"Is the consultation time over now? Aye yai yai yai yai! How tiresome… if I don't wake up from this weird dream soon, Jinguuji-sensei will scold me for being late to class again"

"Huh?"

Although I should have hardened my resolve, the voice does not seem to disappear. As I just stood up, the voice this time seems to come not from above but somewhere behind me

 _Marimo-chan?_

When Marimo-chan's name was mentioned, I suddenly realized where I heard this voice before. Like when a missing cog in a machine was found, everything connects to each other and recovers my memories

" _You are the last person seen together with her that night before she disappeared"_

" _Why do you claim you know nothing? I know you have something to do with it!"_

Yes, this is the same voice. This is the same voice as the classmate condemning me of Marimo-chan's death in PE class back then. My cowardice of wanting to run away from reality is what causes her untimely death.

"! You are…"

Turning my head around, I try to verify the source of the mysterious voice.

At the same time, everything is covered in white once again.

—

 **October 22, 2001 – BETA world, Shirogane residence**

I slowly opened my heavy eyes when the light from the windows tells me it's morning

"…I'm… in my bed? So… this is my room?"

As I look frantically around the same old room, that fact is confirmed

"I'm… back!... Ah… what's going on?"

I don't know why but I feel relieved being back to my room to the point of tears.

All I remember is that I had some very weird dream. That dream is really long that I suspect it may be real. In my dream, everyone I know is still there just different circumstances and backgrounds. I even met new people like Kasumi and Kyouzuka-obaa-san. I joined the military, even almost died in some southern island too.

But most importantly, why did I create something terrifying like the BETA? I faint twice just looking at them.

In order to test out what is the dream and what is the reality, I proceed to dress up in my uniform and go outside. If my dream is true, the confirmation can be seen right next door. As I steel myself, the doorknob of my house is unlocked.

"Ahh, as I thought. So that was all real…"

The robot resting on the rubbles that used to be Sumika's house is really there. If my memory of the dream is correct, it is a type-77 Gekishin. I remember I got really excited the first time seeing it and getting closer to check it out.

"Let's check just for sure"

I move closer to the unit, not for the same purpose as the old me though, but to ascertain once again everything is not a dream. I pick one of the rock sharp enough then proceed to lightly cut my finger

"I see… Red blood and this clear feeling of pain… maybe it's all real after all"

Accepting my reality, I keep walking on the street with no destination in mind. Registering the ruin of a town in front of me with the one in my dream, I remember something important from my dream.

 _The Alternative plan_

If everything's like my dream, there are Alternative IV and V both of which should be active by now. Although I know little about Alt IV, V is more obvious to me, too obvious to my liking

 _Only one hundred thousand…_

Indeed, only one hundred thousand selected humans will escape this Earth via spaceship that did not even have a sure chance of finding habitable planets. I still remember watching the fleets leave its doom planet when all the G-bombs hit the globe.

"Huh?"

Suddenly a sense of pain like that of a knife hit me. The pain is different than the one I cause to my finger earlier. This pain is from within me, right in the center of my chest.

"Is this… regret?"

I mutter the only answer I could think of. I have a weird feeling I regret not doing something. Something inside is urging me to do something before it's too late. All of this could be my imagination since my dream and reality still confuse me

"Everyone, wait for me! I will at least be with you all!"

In my moment of confusion, my friends are who appeared on my mind. They are the people I know well in both world and I know we will always help each other. With my knowledge of the future, I will assist them with all my power.

"I have decided: I will save this damn world!"

For now, that will be the goal I set so that my friends will not have to suffer the same regret I felt when the world ends. There are still a lot of things I want to know but my gut tells me this is the right decision.

After remembering where they should be right now, I set my destination to be my once-school now military base.

—

 **Cherry blossom trees pathway**

On the way, I review many other things about my dream. One thing in particular is the cherry blossom trees along the road I'm walking. Many soldier died in the BETA war is said to rest in peace under these trees, watching over us remaining survivors.

I wonder how much of that story is true. If it is, could it be you guys that sent me back in time to finish what you could not? I don't know. I don't even know how it feels to sacrifice myself for a greater cause. I can't even imagine one of my friends is somewhere under the road I used to walk to school

"…Sumika…"

And yet, Sumika is not among the friends that are in this world. In my dream, at least in database or in the base I'm heading to, she did not exist. Although some part of me is glad that she is not here, a certain feeling of loneliness overcame my mind

"…No! What am I thinking!? Why do I believe a mere dream? She's out there somewhere! She must be!"

I don't know what came over me. But the thought of a world where Sumika and I are not together is unthinkable to the point of making me angry.

"Just you wait, Sumika! Ready your dumb head before I find you and deliver my judgment"

With a renewed will to find my childhood friend and protecting my friends, I confidently walked to the front gate where two familiar guards standing as usual

"Why do I feel like I'm forgetting something else?"

Thinking I will gradually remember all the details in my dream, I speed my steps to my destination

—

Little does Shirogane Takeru know what he has done. Just like the time he forcefully move back to the Extra world, Jinguuji Marimo from BETA world fused with her peaceful counterpart. Now the opposite has happened instead, and that is the price he has made.

Unknown to Takeru as he repeated his loop, another person from Extra was transferred to this war-ridden world. And that man is watching Takeru as he's making his introduction to the two guards

* * *

 **Author's note** :

Now this story of mine have progressed… just a little though! I love build characters like this and the fighting is far from sight so you have to bear with me for at least 5 more chapters. And in case any of you ask, I got more days off due to the Chinese New Year last week so this is an early update. In another case if you want to ask then yes, this Takeru had his memory reset just like the in the original game. Why? Since I love mixing canon and non-canon together. But note that there's some of my own difference

Moving on, for my mere prologue to have 3 reviews and so many views makes me very happy. As in literally nothing happened in that damn chapter but just a foreshadowing, know you have my appreciation for giving my story a try. I will take your opinions and improve my writings as time goes on. BUT let me make this clear: this is my story and I write it in the way I like. I respect your view but you can also respect mine by ignoring my writings. I write story to enjoy myself after a hard day at work, not to stress myself writing in styles I don't like.

Speaking honestly: yeah, I don't care what you think, my story won't change anything and there's nothing you can do about it! Muwawawa!

But seriously, although your comment won't affect much of my story, know that I will read all the reviews you guys have for me.

Live long and prosper!


	3. Chapter 2 - Her way of thinking

**Chapter 2** **: Her way of thinking**

* * *

 **Wow, I'm having such a blast just writing my chapter's forewords. You know what? From now on each chapter will have some few lines like this and if you're too lazy, you can skim through these lines of mine. Let's see what the topic is for today: As one of a few loners that didn't choose a natural science major like most of my friends, sometimes I don't understand what's going on in their heads. Later on, at least I know entering an argument with them relying on pure logics is a big mistake**

* * *

 **XO: Executive Officer**

 **Cybreed: Cyber genetic breed**

 **Stangna: Sleeper Agent**

 **ABS: Artificial Biochemical Substance**

* * *

 **Kouzuki Yuuko's POV**

A genius

That is what most if not all people will say if they ever heard of her name. For such a long time that she cannot even remember, maybe some can say it's been since she's aware of everything around her, she has been regarded as a once a century prodigy in the field of Quantum Physics. Even before she discovered her own theory in the slender age of seventeen, people have expected much of her thanks to the unique way of thinking and problem solving. Many professors she met even have to say her mind is beautiful, since she can figure ideas and knowledge from an angle no one ever thinks of. They are intriguing of what is going on in that head of hers

The person herself though, cared little to nothing in that regard. Her personality is always more fitted for mischievous misdeeds. Her attitude to everything around her could be sum up to two things: interest or disinterest. She has always either become interested in one thing or disinterest in it the next day. Whimsical, that's how she prefer to being called.

However, everything changed when she began the discovery of her own the Quantum Physics Theory in middle of eighth grade. From then, everything started moving. Everything started moving with Yuuko at the center.

In 1988, seeing the Alternative III's results proved insufficient, the United States, without waiting for the call for contingency plans, presented their proposal for the next Alternative Plan to the United Nations: a plan for an anti-BETA strategy that employs G-Bombs to eradicate the Hives.

On paper, this plan is to use limited application of G-bombs to capture the outer Hives. As for the material, by just repeating the cycle of acquiring G-elements, the US will handle the procedure to mass produce G-bombs. After determining the number of bombs sufficient, the final stage will be accompanied with a saturation attack of large number of G-bombs to purge the Hives in the center of Eurasia, including the Original Hive.

Truly, a plan designed with mankind's best interest at heart…not completely. In any world leaders' minds, they understand the implication of this plan. They understand who will command mankind if the BETA is truly erased from Earth using this new Alternative plan.

But, they had no other choices. Getting under the rule of fellow humans is still far better than being enslaved or even eradicated by an alien race. This was the thoughts of every Delegate within the United Nations when they looked at the American proposal. Not until a report came in offered another way out. A fourteen-year-old girl could potentially help them find a way to save the planet without utterly destroying it and losing their freedom.

Yuuko did not understand it herself at first. A person branded as a genius did not understand why she began to seriously examining the quantum causality theory she thought of on a whim. She convinced herself this theory of hers could potentially save the world so she had to do it. She had to abandon her own enjoyment and freedom to contribute to humanity's survival. And that's why she felt so happy, more than one of her pranks, when seeing the expression on her eldest sister's face when she shown her thesis. The normally calm Kouzuki Motoko, a high-ranking member of the UN, flashed a sincere smile and said:

"As expected of Yuuko"

So with the new potential plan, the UN rejected the United States proposal for the next Alternative. On the surface, reason for rejection was differences in the evaluation of the results of Alternative III and objections by Eurasian nations over the unpredictable effects of the new weapons.

However, everything is not always smooth sailing from there.

As a result, the United States is deeply disappointed in the UN, and decides to enforce its own anti-BETA strategy. The rejected plan becomes more radical, and finally leads to Alternative V while Alternative IV is proposed next focused on with her own theory.

At first, she did not care about petty things like politics and everything going on in the background. Soon, she noticed how naïve she was. Numerous oppositions, claims, some even assassination attempts were aimed at her to postpone her research. Even though those events were quickly shot down, they left a big impression on Yuuko: the world is a harsh place to please. From then on, she began to at least take notice of how the politicians think around her and how to take advantage of them. She put on a strong and confidence mask, never to be taken off as long as her duty still stands, she thought. However, what she did not foresee is that this action had drained all her inspiration, the inspiration to perfect her theory.

It had been two years since she started working on it and still no noticeable breakthrough. The only thing she gained was the increasing frustration and disappointment at the very humans she's trying to save.

She did not understand. She did not get why there's a wall blocking her path to the final realization of Alt IV. She wondered where all the motivation she got from the beginning went off to.

Yuuko may take a long time or may never realize the answer to all her questions. If she ever had the power to travel between worlds like Shirogane Takeru, she would realize the answer in a flash: it is the environment. In a peaceful world, her counterpart also found the theory on a whim but reach the final conclusion much faster than this Yuuko could ever dream of. Despite sharing the same brain, the relaxed atmosphere helps her to open to new ideas and thoughts more than in a world where a miscalculation spells deaths on millions or more likely billions of lives. And the harsh reality once again strikes that ideal environment does not exist in a world riddled with BETA and human backstabbing.

However, fortune did not leave her completely

Tedious as it sounds, she still attended high school at the age of sixteen. She planned to just ignore the teachers and focused on her research during class like usual. Those teachers dare not to interrupt her as they were all informed the importance of her work. With that in mind, she did her own business until the bell signified lunch break rang for her first time in senior high. Not like that meant anything special to her as she would just sit still and examined her own notes.

"Hey you! Why did you not pay attention in class? You have to at least pay some respect to the teachers!"

"Hah?"

That was the first line of conversation she had with the tenth-grade class representative Jinguuji Marimo, someone that is closest to what she will ever call a friend.

At first, she and Marimo argued with each other, a lot and often. Their viewpoint and personalities can be said to be almost total opposite: calculative and emotional, logic-driven and purely passionate, whimsical and serious. Even Yuuko questioned why she engaged in such troublesome arguments instead of finding human's salvation. Contrary to her belief, the result was beyond her imagination: one year later she finally finished her paper on Quantum Causality Theory and officially placed it on the Alternative Plan bid committee.

Interacting with Marimo had unexpectedly loosened the air around her at the same time made her mind more flexible. The more dialogue they held, the more interest Yuuko would feel about a new perspective different from her. Granted, most of the things her friend said were subjective at best but she found those things fascinating. In time, she applied all that flexibility to develop new ideas no one ever thought of to complete her work. Another side-effect was that she found a ray of hope in Marimo, a hope that among the humans she would save there are people like this girl. She found in this girl not the crafty adults she often interacted with but a determined soul with a straightforward and simple dream of her own:

"I want to become a teacher!"

That was Marimo's answer to Yuuko's pestering why she looked up to the teaching profession so much. One part of her felt that dream may never be fulfilled in a world where their country could be annihilated when the alien invaders feel like it. Another part admired that dream, admired the courage and will to have such a bright dream in this dark age. The thought of becoming a meager teacher together with her friend just to poke fun at her created a smirk on the young scientist's face. And so a small part within herself wished her friend's dream realized someday. Maybe, just maybe Marimo, someone so different from her, could do things she never had the leisure of thinking of.

And once again, reality is never what she wants it to be.

Starting from 1991, to hasten the fundamental research on the next Plan, she was made to skip high school and admitted to the Imperial University's Applied Quantum Physics Laboratory. At the same time, Japan completely revised its Fundamental Law of Education to focus on the cultivation of Eishi – or TSF pilot. Truncation of compulsory subjects and reorganization of university departments began. As a result, she had to severe her close connection Marimo in order to protect herself and her friend from being exploited. Even with all those obstacles, she still silently kept her eyes on the new recruits in the military not hoping Marimo never in the midst but that her friend to simply survive the coming war

For once, her anticipation was answered in kind: A 19-year-old Jinguuji Marimo survived the "eight minutes of death" by the year 1993.

During operation 9-6 in China, Marimo was the only survivor among the two whole battalions. The surprise BETA attack had devastated the Japanese Continental Expeditionary Force that was supposed to only support the flank. The fact that Marimo survived the ambush and the bombardment following that could be considered a minor miracle

Moreover, Yuuko learnt something entirely new about herself from that incident: she felt a sense of joy upon hearing Marimo's news. Since the beginning, she always maintained an indifferent stand about matters not concerning her own wellbeing. No matter how many soldiers or civilians' bloods spill, she's confident of her resolve to sacrifice everything to attain victory. That's why this change of heart created an emotion she rarely felt in her short life: fear

 _Have I… become weak?_

Unlike her sister whose career majors in Neuro Surgeon and human emotion, she has no way to know right away if this change is beneficial for her or not. However, the title of genius is not undeserved for Yuuko as she figured out the reason in mere minutes: Marimo is now part of her own interest. Saying so may sound cold to anyone hearing this but this really is how she came to this conclusion.

The time she enjoyed arguing, teasing, or just simply chatting with Marimo brought her a sense of joy and relax she had not experienced since becoming the key to humanity's salvation. It felt like… she had another little sister to care for. Being the youngest of the three siblings, seeing her naïve at-the-same age friend create her a feeling like wanting to protect something precious to her. Shortly after examining all these data, Yuuko remembered some lines her blood-related oldest sister said to her when things all begun:

"Yuuko, do you know that through history most if not all of the youngest in a family is the most gifted individuals? Ah, given you I think you will know this sooner or later… Seeing your talent, I guess not involving you in my mess is impossible after all. Since we're all aboard now, I just want to give one advice to you"

Motoko's suggestion was not something Yuuko did not foresee; just something she's not sure whether she got the right response

"Saving the world is a nice goal and all but… what is the motivation that you can actually relate to? If you can clear this, I'm sure your research speed will improve leaps and bounds"

That is the way sisters in the Kouzuki household care for each other, as all three distinguished humans they are, the answers would never be given, only a hint like that. They will have to find the correct path by themselves and Yuuko's case is no different. And so, many people may call this youthful mistake, Yuuko's short response was inevitable:

"Thanks, Nee-san. I'm sure I'll be fine"

To that end of conversations, the Neuro Surgeon just smiled warmly and shrugged her shoulders slightly before going back to her UN's office.

To Yuuko, all in her head is the things in Physics that fascinate her. She thought she could care less about anything else at the time. And only for an instant, even if she did not know why, the idea of her research potentially saving the world interests her. With her field of expertise coinciding world's need, she thought for sure she got more than enough motivation to reach the end of her road. And to further prove that point, she had all the necessary formula and data necessary to work on immediately after gaining access clearance from the UN.

But at this moment, she now realized another source of motivation within her that she ignored until now: the human support factor. As much as she wanted to think she's all about logics, all the evidence suggested otherwise. The inspiration she got at the beginning, the way she gradually lost it, and how it got revived all relate to those in her own world. Not the vast world out there with one billion remaining humans, but one that she can actually closely relate to, one that in her immediate surrounding.

She now fully realized the full intention of her sister's advice: to reach a faraway goal, one needs to find short checkpoints on the long way. She understood that a final destination too distant will make her lost her way if there is no marker along the way. In this case, the care for those close to her serves that purpose, the purpose of reassuring her success. If she had to explain in words that normal folk could understand, it would mean she had a soft side to her usually cold manner. Even so that side only applies to a minority few and she has no intention of informing a soul about this new discovery.

While snickering to her lovely sister's insight to human emotion, she instantly thought of how to best utilize this part of her personality. If pressed, she would say this soft part of her would indeed make her look weak and easily exploited. However, as long as she keeps this to her grave, her role as a necessary villain will play out as planned. Seeing the wonderful effect of this motivation to boost her performance, she sees no reason to ignore or suppress this more human-like nature and even considered follow this guideline to act from now on.

First thing first, she sought out those that would support her plan from the UN as well the Empire of Japan. Right at the following year, she got officially invited to a position within the UN to advances the verification of her theory. She knew then that she alone would never make her plan come to fruition. Soon, she got her project up and running. To further improve the chance of success, she proposed a candidate selection pool, an Eishi training school under the direct control of the project. If her calculation is correct, those candidates will reduce by haft by the time her "special unit" is ready to deploy. She felt nothing about these young sacrifices, as this serve a greater good. The only thing on her mind was the realization of how much she needs to rely on other people, truly there's so much one person can do.

She's even willing to give away those she cares if must be but that does not mean she will sit still and do nothing about it. The perfect example is Marimo, as she is now the instructor of her own selected cadet. The justified reason is her friend's extensive experience of combat and teaching will prove beneficial for the project. Of course, the real reason is that Yuuko wants Marimo close to her acting as a sense of peace and, devilishly, a source of entertainment to release stress. Although she does not know how much Marimo has noticed, but the instructor position also expresses Yuuko's personal selfishness to grant her friend's wish within her limited authority.

Now with everything in place, the only thing left is to utilize all these resources to assist the project

—

 **October 22, 2001**

 **Yokohama base Vice Commander's office – 11:17 hours**

Currently on her chair, she's in a familiar but irritating situation: a dead end. That's right; she's once again stuck with her research.

Every chess pieces are in place, at least that's what she believes in. To "create" the core of her plan, she has managed to figure out how to make a computing processor with fifteen separate computing circuits. The final obstacle is to find a way to make all the parallel circuits to work uniformly at the same time. She needs all those circuits to contribute to the computing speed of her soon-to-be supercomputer. That's the only way for a machine to even hope to simulate a human brain activity. This problem is the same kind, just in a magnitude of difference, the development of multicore computers facing in the peaceful world. In case of personal computing's eight core processor's first generation, only half of those circuits function at full power while the other half mostly at idle state. Granted, performance significantly improves starting from the third generation of those processors but Yuuko has none of that leisure for development time. She needs a perfect formula right at the beginning for all the computing units to work as one.

In the extreme case of failure, to explain in physics terms, she would be in a situation like being attached to another object by an incline plane wrapped helically around an axis. Or to explain in normal expression: she's screwed.

Still looking at her paperwork and mocking herself in a nerdy way, the second phone on her desk produced a sound indicating an incoming transmission. She has two phones in her office. One is for normal office use, the other, although rarely used, is for emergency contact from the guard post in the front gate. The original purpose of this phone is to inform her of anyone wishing to seek audience with her through improper mean without any appointment. As long as the matter interests her, she's willing to listen to the other party even when they just ask for her from the gate.

"Just make it quick, I'm not so free right now" – she answered the call with a slightly harsh voice

"Yes, Vice Commander! A man named Shirogane Takeru requests a talk with you, madam!"

"Hah? I know no such Shirogane Takeru. What does he look like?"

"Yes! He seems to be a seventeen or eighteen Japanese male with short hair, though his physics suggests some kinds of military training before. Also, he's wearing an almost identical uniform to our base's cadet if not for the different material and no emblem attached !"

"Hmmm"

In other words, a suspicious boy walking right in the front door of the most important UN facility in the Far East just to have a chat with her. Her name is famous thorough the world so it's not like some random kid on the street could not know it. The slightly intriguing part is the possibly military background and where this kid secured the uniform. All of this point out he should be a spy, but his bold and reckless actions can get him fired for this poor performance.

"Well, for now just escort him to the detention cell. I will pay him a visit if I have time"

"Yes, madam!"

And the call was terminated with that last exchange. Glancing at her various formulas again, she had the urge to go out and vent her frustration somewhere. So just on a whim, she decided to go out and witness the capture of this out-of-nowhere kid and maybe somehow tease or even provoke him in the progress. On the way out, she chuckled at how much of a villain she is

—

 **Yokohama base main entrance**

"We're losing… because idiots like you… do things like this!"

Voice of a frustrated boy reached Yuuko's ears as she walked toward the gate. The expression on his face could be called powerless but still want to struggle no matter what. If this is not a performance, she may understand this Shirogane's character a little bit more based on this alone. Not forgetting the original purpose of a short trip, she raised a condescending tone in order to see the other party's reaction:

"So loud out here… who's losing what exactly anyway?"

The guards' surprise asides, this unknown boy's wide open eyes and relax facial muscle suggests he was surprised and reassuring to see her. The fact that no anger reflected in his eyes disappointed her a little bit. Moreover, these so easy-to-read expressions only made her more alarmed of this person as he's being too naïve for a citizen in this waste land.

As if to interrupt her thought, he called out to her using the word "sensei" despite her never teaching or having any students. Although he seemed convinced in what he said, this could be easily fabricated by the use of drugs and hypnosis. If all of this acting is to confuse her, she would admit he's doing quite a good job so far. He then spouted some nonsense that she could not catch heads or tails of, but the bombshell was delivered last as he's about to be dragged away:

"Do you want to let… Alternative V happen!?"

"—!?"

This single line geared her entire thought progress to another line completely. This new information suggests this kid somehow knows about the top secret project that only the very top authorities of America and UN like herself know about. To further solidify the point, he seems to even know the space colony ships are being constructed. Although the construction has started since 1997, a mere citizen should have no access to this information since it could create mass panics in the world if let loose.

As things turned out not so funny anymore, she discarded the former purpose of this visit and acted in the best way possible, for her benefit of course. If this kid really knows what he's talking about, there's not even a minuscule chance of her letting him speaking in the open like this.

"I'm sorry ~ I actually know him"

Getting used to the guards' surprise and the kid's stupidly relief face, she effortlessly convinced that she simply forgot about the Shirogane name and purposely came down to take him with her. Of course, before letting the boy in her office, there's a series of exams and tests to see if his body is "clean" of all interference.

Turning her head back to the building, some kinds of light reflection shone briefly in Yuuko's eyes before disappearing from sight. The source was likely to come from the classroom one of her friend's cadet squad uses for lectures. The strange thing is there should be no one in that room by this time to create that strange phenomenon.

 _Got to save that for later_

Leave the matter of investigating who was monitoring her for latter, she hurriedly led Shirogane to the test room then going back to her desk and look at the data bank of this supposedly student of her.

—

 **Vice Commander's office – 4 hours later**

For once, Yuuko has cleaned up all the mess on her desk so that the new guest won't see any valuable Intel if he ever wants to. Though the possibility of a random citizens understanding her work is scarce, her cautious nature tells her otherwise. To further reinforce her suspicion, all the data she can get from the key word "Shirogane Takeru" in the UN's database is among the list of missing civilians during the Yokohama Invasion. The last time this name was mentioned is from a death certificate. There's quite a few ways to interpret this information but she has already filtered the two most possible explanations.

First thing come to mind is that he somehow survived during the chaos of the invasion and later recruited as some kind of black-ops or spy unit. That would explain a lot about his military background and why he has knowledge of classified information. Since the fingerprints and DNA test result match with the record, the chance of this man being an imposer is reduced to a minimum.

The European Front may be able to make an entire artificial human known as a Cybreed due to their specialization in biotech but she doubted they would create such an advance Cybreed and send it off just like that. If her memory does not fail, a single arm of one cyborg costs around 1,500,000 EUR. Surely the Europeans do not have a habit of wasting their people's taxes.

The only flaw of this hypothesis is the attitude shown by Shirogane. All his action and expression so far is screaming the word: normal civilian, starting right from his untactful way of calling out to a base's Vice Commander.

The other case is that he's really just a normal boy missing in the strife and the report is wrong for labeling him a dead man. Although this would explain a lot for his unprofessional behavior, it left the missing link between him and the Info he possesses.

After making sure to keep an open mind for other possibilities, she let the man of the hour in her office. He then just walked in normally with a relaxing pace. Although there are signs of exhaustion after being examined so much, his face's having an expression of relief and nostalgia like he's feeling really comfortable inside her messy office. She's finding this quite amusing and annoying at the same time.

"So even you got worn out after that"

Starting off a conversation nicely and lazily is to state the obvious, just like how saying what the weather looks like today. Even so, the boy also voiced his complained about the long hours he had to go through. Of course to meet the most important person in this base, he should have known this is to be expected. If this is also part of his acting, she's getting more and more impressed.

Signaling him to sit down on the only chair in the room, she casually walked back to her desk. Still standing, she motioned her body to turn around with one hand leaning on the work table. What the boy did not know is that she just activated a special button on her desk. The button is designed not hidden beneath the table, but directly on the surface itself. The only camouflage this button has is the matching desk color and its motion sensor function. So she just needs to move her hand over a seemingly ordinary part of the desk to activate this fine piece of technology. This simple action will help her tremendously to ascertain the words of the new mystery.

"Now then… per your request, I had someone investigate your home"

As she moved to the heart of matters, she states the result of the house search the kid insisted before their conversation. The result was: nothing. There's absolutely nothing in that ruin of a house, just a building that's about to collapse. When she told this to the opposite side, he had quite a face of disbelief like she's trying to lie to him. To prove her point, she tossed the just-taken picture to him. Seeing this undeniable evidence, the kid had quite a shocking expression. He seems to feel like he does not know what's what anymore. Before his mind could drift off anywhere, Yuuko pulled him back to reality:

"Then it's my turn now. You promised to talk to me about it after your room was searched, right?"

The immediate question she wants to know is how and where he leant about the Alternative plan. He easily told her he first knew it on December 24th from the base Commanding Officer. Moreover, he's saying it was this year's December which means two months from now on. He followed saying he somehow moved back in time and know what's about to happen in the future.

At this point, she's beginning to suspect he is under some sort of powerful hypnosis or just outright crazy. All the unknown around him makes her patient enough to even take the time listen to all his rambling. In the worst case scenario, she can at least ascertain how much truth in his words thanks to the wonder button.

She proceeded to tell him her own standpoint of a scientist that she will at least hear him out. By making him want to convince her, the amount of information gained will naturally increase even if she only asks one question. Carefully choosing her question, the ideal one should be what in specific the base CO "told" the boy. This question connects to his previous statement as well as ascertain how possible this "future" he's speaking of.

As expected, he told her a lot about his knowledge: from the purpose of this base, the Alt IV plan it's housing, and the importance of Yuuko in all of this.

"Impressive…"

She let out an uncharacteristic sound of admiration. Not at how easily the kid dashed out classified information, but at how vague yet accurate all these claims are. Yet, all these are past Info, nothing futuristic has come up to prove his words

"There's more… Alternative IV will end on December 24th"

"…"

Although she did want to hear about the supposedly future, this is the last news she wants to hear. For the last few months, nothing has gone too well for her project. Asides from her own research, the attempted terrorist last month and the alarmingly decreasing number of her Special Task Force have made things difficult for her progress. Within the UN, the higher-ups are beginning to doubt her success. Yuuko knows that deep inside, she's fear for the future of Alt IV. As if reading her mind, Shirogane explained the simple reason was because her plan hadn't produced any results so stage V is the obvious next step.

Still analyzing which is the line between truth and deceit in the kid's words, she silently moved her sight to the monitor screen of the computer. Just when she's about to check how much credibility he's holding, Shirogane blurted out the most crucial part in this interview:

"Sensei, you have to get fifteen billion semiconducting parallel computing circuits to fit in the palm of your hand"

"—!?"

This new revelation truly upset her greatly. She was okay with everything he said until now since they can be obtained through information network on classified data bank. Even the future cancelation of her plan did not unsettle her that much since she has no way to confirm that future yet. But this, this new piece Shirogane's holding is something only Yuuko's supposed to know about. Although she submits reports to the higher-ups in a regular basis, the details of her own project was never disclosed to anybody. She even never stores any crucial part of her formulas in digital format for fear of leak. The only things they exist on besides her brain are the messy paper she just cleaned up.

She has to change the opinion about this youth once again: either he has a mean of monitoring her directly or he's really someone from the future. According to her theory, what this Shirogane thinks as "time travelling" is better termed as world travelling. However, the possibility is so low that this thought did not even enter her mind before his last declaration. The thought of someone capable of monitoring her so closely and or having a reckless world traveler gives her the scare at the same level though. Granted, resolving insider spies is much simpler than guiding such an amateur world traveler.

But first, she had to determine he's at least not her enemy. And that requires some drastic measure:

"…What do you want?"

Clocking her never-used-before handgun, she aimed the barrel at the only person still sitting on the frail chair.

'I want to prevent Alternative V from happening and defeating the BETA in the progress"

"…"

"So… can you trust me now?"

"The idea of you being an Anti-Alternative agent is looking a lot more credible to me now"

She's not lying to him. The idea of this youth being a human-caused occurrence outweighs him being a worldly miracle on her logical scale. She could have checked his words by just looking at her screen, but she's more interested in seeing his reaction when confronting a threatening situation. Depending on his next action, this could make or break the stand-off they're currently in.

He followed with another confusing expression. He asked what he could have done more for her to believe her. She told him just tell the truth. The point of her suggestion is for him to say something worthy of convincing her. The way he proceeds from her advice will truly determine whether she can trust him or not.

From the beginning of their meeting, this Shirogane tends to have some emotional influence in his dialogue. To further certify her evaluation of the kid, he continued to ask whether she really want to let the 1% population live and the rest dying. Then he also made it a hysterical question by telling the answer of her drinking to forget her mistakes. Too bad for him, her poker face is not that much easily swayed. The way he desperately tries to pass his idea, the volume of his voice, with the combination set of emotions displayed, she has mostly figured out the character of the kid. She just needs one final piece to convince herself of that conclusion

"Please… use your genius to prevent it, sensei!"

To her surprise, Shirogane seems to be overwhelmed with extreme emotion, even more than previously observed. But the most surprising part is that in his eyes, droplets of tears are beginning to form up waiting to be overflown.

"Sensei, you may be wondering why I am crying right now. I don't know… It feels like I've lost something tremendously important and precious to me, and now I'm regretting it. I don't know whether if it's because I couldn't do anything for humanity or not…"

Shirogane, still sitting, lifted his head with a determined face

"But there is one thing I know for sure, I will never let those close to me feel the regret and despair I'm feeling right now. I have felt first-hand what it means to be powerless. And for that goal, I need your Alternative IV to succeed!"

"…"

"I'm not afraid of death, sensei. If you kill me now, I may just come back to this day and try another way to convince you. At least now I can accept this world as my reality, and that's thanks to you by the way"

"…me?"

Calming down his thought, he explained in details how things went in what he called "the previous loop". He said he initially got even more confused first time into this world. Moreover, Yuuko was the one to dig him up because she found him interesting, got him some special privilege and involve him with the residents in the room next door.

It's really nice to see how the actions of a parallel Yuuko are similar to how whimsical she is. But the real star of this flood of information is the claim of Shirogane coming from a world without BETA. This has nailed the true form of existence this boy is… if what he said so far contains no falsehood. Before moving on to the final confirmation, she still has one last thing to ask him:

"…how do you expect me… to believe what you're saying and that you will not leak what you know?"

"I have no evidence"

"…"

"…"

By now, she's completely sure what kind of person this Shirogane Takeru is: an idiot. He told her almost everything he knows with nothing to fall back on, just a plea to finish the project she's already committing all her power. Clearly, this kid can fail any spy test miserably. If this was the her eleven years ago, she would have considered him nonsense, illogical, or even irrelevant to her

Fortunately for Shirogane, Yuuko currently knows that human emotions can be a really strong incentive to accomplish great things. All her experience until now is the very proof of this side of her that she's trying to hide from others. Indeed, "the enemy of the human race", "the cruel, traitorous vixen of Yokohama", "that Satan", and finally "the Mad Scientist" Kouzuki Yuuko has a soft side to her hardened mask. Shirogane Takeru is an idiot who cares deeply for those he holds dear. That's why to her, this foolish boy is not just an idiot, he's a lovable idiot.

Flashing a rare smile on her face, she relaxed her hand and about to head for the monitor

"You may not understand the truth, but that won't change it"

"Eh?"

"When I first came here and wouldn't accept this world as reality, that's what you told me"

"…"

"…"

Out of everything about her that Shirogane knows, this is the one thing she's certain no investigation or observation could gain. This is the one line she believes belongs to her since she can relate to this saying. The motivation for this commitment, the boost from her friend, the demoralization from the cunning politicians are all factors affecting her performance. It took her five years to realize this truth, but whether she can see it or not will have no effect on the past or the present. The only thing humans Yuuko included can do is use the enlightenment she gained to use that truth and make a better future.

'Good idea… one minute"

Finally getting her hand on the keyboard, she activated the windows to show the result from her bunny Esper next door. The special button she pressed from the start made it possible or all cameras feed from this office to be transmitted to the computer in the brain laboratory. From there, her favorite rabbit will determine the percentage of how much of what Shirogane said is true. She would love to confirm everything single line of this youth of course, but to maintain a streamline conversation without looking at a screen every time, this is the best she could hope for.

As she predicted, the number 1 followed by another two 0s result is displayed on the encrypted program. Still pointing the gun, she continued reading the report. Unexpected, she found something very exciting in a separate windows. Seems like the top of Alt III herself write something else aside from the usual truth or lie report. Thinking of this as a rare occurrence, she allowed the document to pass through and in it is another great finding: "the color of the survivor is changing drastically"

Slowly lowering her handgun, she is now shocked. As this is the first time anything abnormal happen to the brain… no, the sole BETA survivor in the world. The color in Esper term means the emotions or thoughts of a person. The way her assistant described, it seems the emotion is changing from the normal still and calm color. In the past, the color has displayed the emotion of ecstasy, possibly due to the influence of the liquid in the brain tube. But now, the emotion is changing rapidly from anger, anxious, terror, hatred, and even some hints of relief and happiness. A whole new set of color was displayed at the same time the video feed featuring this newcomer was transferred to the top secret room.

"Well… this just got more interesting"

"Umm?"

"You're right, it's not impossible"

Still deep in her thought, she brushed the matter of her suspecting him a spy off easily. Saying she never expected him one. True to the definition of an idiot, he readily believes what she said at face value and put on a relaxing expression again. Not that she hates this kind of idiot though; they are much easier to work with.

"You knew far too much to be some random idiot… Even things only myself know… and after seeing your room… and this… it's just too interesting"

Even when she completely believes his story, for now, she decided to tell him she did not trust him completely yet. By saying this white-and-a-half lie, she can ensure Shirogane will try to convince her in the future. Judging by his abilities, the easiest way should be to tell her what would happen in the future and leave the outcome to her judgement. He may add his own thoughts and opinions on the matters, but that could hardly change the decisions she's going to make if any.

Un-clocking the gun as the serious talk is over, she's comfortable enough to make some minor chitchat with her other-worlder student. She's slightly impressed at how he saw through her lack of training for a pistol but that's too boring for her standard of chitchat. She continued by asking in details about his loop back, what she did in that loop, and what kind of world this Shirogane's from. As she's feeling very generous right now, she explained the Everett interpretation to him. All that is for naught as the boy seems to be struggling with the idea

"Hmm… details aside. It's just… my childhood friend, Kagami Sumika, wasn't in the "previous world" "

"… Kagami… Sumika"

The sudden mention of this name almost broke her composure as this is the name of the owner of 1that brain next door. DNA test has proved this is the girl who survives the horror in a BETA hive. This is also the reason her name has been wiped out on record to prevent any leakage.

 _To think that he has such deep connection to my project…_

"Yes, and you said she didn't exist in any record. You also told me to forget about her. Otherwise I'd look like a weakling… I think it was"

"'s that so…"

As expected of her other-world self, keeping this kid in the dark is the right move. This is not the right time to reveal that to him, not yet

"But… I'm sorry sensei, I don't think I can follow your advice this time. Somewhere inside me, I believe she is still here, in this ridiculous world. I know this sounds selfish for me to say, but I really want to find proof of her existence since I exist here right now. I still don't know what drives me to find her that far… maybe because I miss chopping her punch-able head so much. Hahaha…"

"Hmmm"

Very intriguing. One way or another, this young man has subconsciously realized the mental connection, the bond he shares with the fortunate or unfortunate girl. She may not be a psychologist, but she can say this youth has a very strong will of wanting to meet his childhood friend again. A will so strong it may just be the cause to make him go back to this world filled with malice

"Although I have no idea where to start looking for her, for now I want to stay close to my friends"

"You mean the training squad you mentioned I put you in before?"

'Yes, all my friends in this world are in cadet training squad 207th. I will still help you whatever way I can with my knowledge of the future sensei, but more than that, I want to help my friends. As they are the reasons I want to save this world to begin with, I want them to be the first humans I can help"

"I see… Let's do it the same way this time"

"Thank you very much, sensei!"

"Yes, yes… Just leave the paperwork to me. If you don't have any other business, feel free to go and meet your teammate. I trust you don't have to be told where they are right now?"

Nodding with a resolute face, Shirogane bowed to her one last time before exiting the room

—

 _What a productive day_

Feeling satisfied of finally having some progress with her plan, she's in a really good mood right now. Finding… no, running into this mysterious boy who has such deep connection to her Alt IV may just be the final key for her success. Although she feels the compassion he has for his friends, the Witch of Yokohama is not someone to act based only on sentiment. Assigning him in the same training squad is the first step to see the true potential of this kid at the same time as providing an incentive for his actions. If she is lucky, the whole training squad may get to join her Special Force A-01 officially thanks to his help. She does still need her future fortune from the boy, but if he can solve her minor problem of dealing with said team, that will be a godsend. She was feeling minor trouble since the Comprehensive Combat Exam for that squad are much more difficult than normal to prevent them from being graduated. Of course that's never her decision, just the true face of the word political hostage

Finishing typing the simple fake profile for Shirogane, she moved her hand to the first phone on her desk. If the second one is for unscheduled appointment and emergency, this primary phone is for normal usage. That ranges from normal appointment to every kind of office work and announcement she wants to be done. So as natural as it gets, she reached out to inform her favorite instructor of the new update. In addition to training the new recruit, she also wants Marimo to monitor his behavior just in case of emergency

 _Ring_

Just one second too late before the phone's being used by the opposite line.

 _I'm really popular today, and I don't like it_

Feeling a little annoyed, she still lifted the call and carry it to her ear. Unlike the second phone, there's only one person that can use this line to call her like this

"This better be something good. No, how about better than good?"- adding some humor due to her improved mood, she urged the opposite call to concisely state its purpose

"Yes!"

As expected, the voice Yokohama base communications officer and also secretary of its Vice Commander answered her. If there's a person she can trust more than her friend and the base Commander, it is this Polish girl - First Lieutenant Elena Piatif.

"Second Lieutenant Shishido Shinobu of the 6th Tactical Armored Battalion is requesting an audience with you, madam!"

Asides from normal paperwork, Piatif also handles her official appointment like this one. However, she's never met this Eishi who wants to meet with her now. She also can't recall anything significant associated with this name. Being the most important figure in this base, not just anybody can talk with her

"… What's his agenda?" - But not like she's going to refuse a request without reason

"Yes, he said he wants to discuss with you about the "new visitor" today"

"—!?"

The reason of this no name soldier flips her switch in the blink of an eye. The visitor could only mean the boy she just sent off. So how did this Shishido gain access to this information when it's not even been five minutes since their conversation ended? Could it be, he was the one spying on her at the front gate? How much does he know? What is his motive? She got a barrage of questions in her mind, but now is not the time and place to consider them

"Should I guide him to your office?"

For now, she needs to ensure the information about Shirogane does not leak out by any mean possible. And she also does not want to alert the other party too much or he will take drastic actions if cornered

"…Do so for now, make sure to run a basic body checks for him before that. Stand by outside while we're talking. If he doesn't leave my office in 15, feel free to storm in. If he goes out normally, assist him to that test room"

"Understood, madam"

When the call ended, she quickly pulled out this Eishi's data file to scavenge anything she could learn to deduct the background and circumstance of the soon-to-come guest

—

The amount of data in the UN store file has never been enough for her, and this case is no exception. Unlike Shirogane, who's a missing civilian and no further report, this Eishi is a regular soldier in the military and there's a lot of information about him: his portfolio, family, deployment history, anything someone in the army would require to be examined is all displayed in her computer. But she is still not pleased because none of those data is relevant to all the puzzles she's having. None of his profile suggests he could be an agent or has any information gathering background. She could sum up all his Info in a single word: typical. Saying so may be offensive to the Lieutenant but that is the standard for this apocalypse world. She could have picked a random child in a war refugee and the kid may just share the same circumstance with this Eishi. That's why she never had any interest in the soldier, not until now when he knows something he's never supposed to lay his hands on.

Thinking she should launch a thorough investigation about this new visitor after their meeting, she signaled for the waiting party to come in.

As he's walking in and salute in the UN army protocol, she confirmed his features match with the one on his profile. The only catchy thing on this soldier is his gray hair that suggests he's older than he looks although he's the same age as Shirogane on paper. This does not really surprise Yuuko since genetic structure as well as mental trauma can cause human hair to age faster than their bodies.

"Second Lieutenant Shishido Shinobu of the Weasel Squadron, 6th Tactical Armored Battalion's reporting in"

"Welcome to my office, Second Lieutenant. Asides from my condolence for your squad, what in specific do you want to discuss with me?"

"Yes, Yuu—Professor Kouzuki Yuuko, I have some questions regarding the guest coming from the front gate today"

She raised a delicate eye brow at the almost slip-up in his sentence. It seems the youth almost blurted out her first name but quickly corrected himself.

"…continue" – ignoring the minor hick-up, she allowed him to state his question

"If I may ask, is his name Shirogane Takeru?"

"…"

"As I thought… may I ask why a dead man is still alive and walking right in this base?"

"…Stay right where you are"

"…"

Now that the other party has stated he even knows about the new kid's name and even background, she can no longer afford to take it easy. Surely one can find out about Shirogane on the data file, but the clearance required to access them is not something a mere soldier can have. But the most alarming thing is the speed at which he gains this knowledge. Assuming an organization backing him up, their information network can be said to be terrifying. To stress her point, the gun once again is pointed to the one talking to her

"Now answer me, what's your objective?"

"My objective, is Shirogane Takeru himself"

The straightforward answer did not manage to ease her in the slightest. In fact, it makes her even more agitated. Shirogane is the final component she needs in case her future supercomputer gone rouge, not to mention he is the very living embodiment of her theory. She will never let him slip away from her even if the person himself wanted to. Call it impatient if you may, but there's no way she could not be upset at this revelation. Luckily, she's calm enough to not shoot this very probable agent in front of her

"—! Who are you working for?" – Unlike the first time handling her gun, she holds it by two hands this time to express how serious she is. At the very least, she needs to know where her true enemies lie

"I'm working for no one but myself, Vice Commander"

"…"

One thing this young man does not know is that the video feed Yuuko activated from earlier is still on. That means she could check the truth in his words anytime. She is very tempted to do so if not for keeping an eye on any suspicious movements. As she's wondering about the scenario if he's not a spy, the Eishi continued with his explanation

"I'm sorry, let me phrase my purpose a little more clearly: my objective is to observe and understand the reason why Shirogane Takeru exists right here and now"

"Hoh? And what will you gain by doing that?"

"Must you know, Professor?"

"Must you want some lead candy in the mouth, Second Lieutenant?"

"Although I'm not afraid of death, I must refuse your generous treat. And one more thing, if you kill me, whatever plan you have with him will not go very smoothly"

"…"

Unlike the previous conversation where she mostly dominated the pace, this one is an exchange of invisible blades. Both sides exchange remarks and glares at one another; no side wants to back down. Although the statistic of him not being a spy is high, thanks to the agents purge within the base last month, that does not help lower her suspicion of him being one. Not to mention his attitude showing not a common military man his profile suggests, how he lays low until now is one of the thing she needs to investigate

"But please know this: I am not by any means your enemy. And I will tell you my gain this time, as an act of friendship. I need to monitor his movement and determine his actions to better assist him in whatever he's planning to do. I also don't mind if his action is the result of your orders, in fact, I will even support him in whatever way I can"

"… Feels like you still hiding something to me" - The goal he's declaring sounds nice and all, but she hardly believes there's no ulterior motive for this Lieutenant

"… As expected of you Professor, indeed I'm no charity man. However, to gain your trust, I will tell you more about my agenda: the reason I will help Shirogane is because his goal coincides with my own. In other words, I act for my own benefits. That means his failure equals mine. And I have no reason to let that happen"

"How do you expect me to believe that?"

"A genius of your caliber should have a way to determine whether I'm lying or not, Professor"

"What proof you have to prove you will not leak all this Intel?"

"I'm just a soldier, not a spy. And you have my words my mouth is sealed. Furthermore, I don't mind you moving me to a room with camera 24/7 as long as I have access to Shirogane's observation"

"…"

"…"

The ever so calculating head of Alternative IV is on very high alert right now. The more she converses with this youth, the more she becomes wary of him. Although he states his true motive and offer, her first impression of him does not change one bit. Judging by his answer, it's very likely he knows her method of truth marking. If that is the case, all he said so far may be true. Moreover, his response is too perfect for her liking. Shirogane's reaction to her questions may be clumsy and amateur, but that puts her at ease more than these flawless answers she's hearing. Life is not like a test. In classes, you may be successful if you get full score on your exams. However, the way Shishido perfectly got back to her inquiry does not please her as it's supposed to. Instead, she's considering if she should put this man to rest since he seems dangerous to her plan. The only thing prevents her from doing so is her lack of manpower and simply wasting capable personnel is not a habit of hers

"… Professor, you may not trust me right now or may never will. I'm just a suspicious individual who's openly threatening you with classified information after all. To tell you the truth, all these troublesome negotiations and maneuvers are not my things at all. There's hardly anything left in this world that interests me anymore. I would rather be sitting on a couch all day lazing around if it's just for my benefits…I don't know what you learnt from my profile but I stop caring my own well-being a long time ago… if it's just about me, that is"

Seemingly sensing the hesitation in the Vice Commander, the Lieutenant continued his explanation. He's talking a little bit about himself, maybe to loosen her guard. To Yuuko, she's quietly listening as well as analyzing relevant information that could be traced back to the previous topics they're having

"BUT, fortunately, amidst all those chaos I found one thing or one person to be more accurate to live for. Coward as it sounds; I'm still depending on this person's existence to keep moving forward in my life. And luckily, Shirogane is the key for me to return to said person! He is the only chance I will ever get to once again regain my reason of living. And there's no way I'm gonna let it slip away!"

"…"

Things have a tendency to surprise her today. Expecting a logical argument from the Eishi, what she got was an emotional response that supports all his reasoning. Uncharacteristic of his dialogues so far that relies on logics to convince her, the last remarks signify his real or sole drive to confront the feared scientist relying purely on his emotion. Unlike the previous kid's outbreak of emotions, this soldier still has enough composure to stand at attention. His high pitch volume, slight shivering, and the only change in facial expression for the first time makes his point clear though

"… I'm very sorry for my outburst. Please just know this is the real reason of my request"

Astonishingly, she seems a lot more relaxed after that blunder. Maybe being exposed to Shirogane's earlier actions, she found some similarities between these two and let her guard down. She did not forget to remind herself this all could be an act and continued to play her usual self

"Assuming all you said is true, what can I gain from grating your wish? I believe you know what my job is"

"Of course, let me repeat my request first: I want your permission to observe Shirogane Takeru's action. Since you will also make your own report of his activity, I want access to that too. All of this must be out of Shirogane's knowledge. In return, as stated before, I will keep my mouth shut and assist Shirogane in his future endeavors even when he moves within the palm of your hands. In addition, I will also help you in any way you deem necessary in my capacity. As long as you still grant me access to the previous conditions and not using me for human experimentations, I'm fine with any orders you give. And I'm sure you will need some more hand in your plan"

"…"

She may not want to admit it, but the emotional part of his argument has a bigger impact to her decision making. The fact this youth is not a cold-hearted schemer but someone still acting based on emotion appropriate to his age opens more opportunity for her. As long as one does not move solely on facts alone, she can manipulate said person. And the terms he offered leans more to her benefits than she could have hoped for.

"Please, Professor Kouzuki, this is my only chance!"

"… I got it. Just stay right there"

"…"

Not changing the position of her handgun, she moved the free hand to the monitor to see the same old windows. As she thought, the result number remains unchanged from the precious encounter. The only difference is that there's no additional report this time from her cosplayer. After pondering for a while, she decided to take on his offer. Asides from the benefits from what he offered, what she really wants is keeping the Eishi under her close watch as not to leak anything outside. Although she's not very certain how useful he can be, surely her decrease-in-number personal team will need someone who can keep up a conversation with her

"Looks like today's your lucky day, Second Lieutenant. The room next to Shirogane Takeru is still open. And it's got a single bed too! Aren't you lucky, no more bunkbed for you" – lowering her gun again, she sent some witty remarks

"Although I don't like being next door to a dude, I still accept and thank you for your offer" – she snickered a little to his gratitude. Little choice Shishido has, he must have known this room is the best possible place for him to monitor his target

"Well said, and as I recalled you said you're fine with being monitored right? Also if I don't violate our agreement, I can assign you any task, correct?" – and also a perfect way for her to monitor him

"Yes, madam! Whatever you want to be done within my power"

"Heh… Sounds really reliable… let's see how you perform in the future"

"I will try my best not to disappoint you, too much, madam"

"Hah! One question: you claim to be no spy, so how do you know about Shirogane?"

"Ah, I'm very sorry for not mentioning this earlier. I have known Shirogane Takeru from even before any BETA touched this country. I want to say we're friend, but that's a blatant lie. We have enough connection to be called acquaintances though. That's why I realized who he is from the beginning and knows he's already deceased when the BETA landed. From there on, everything is on the record so I don't think I need to tell you"

"… Interesting, so what is your direct goal that equals his?"

"That part is of my own, Professor. I'm sure you have many secrets you're keeping to yourself too"

"So you're saying we just have a common interest?"

"Apparently so"

"Hmm, so crafty of you"

"No no, I can never match you, XO"

Relieved her initial impression of him still holds true, she's entertained enough to continue some minor chitchat. In the progress, she tried to learn of minor details she could not afford to ask before due to the tension existed. She did not bother very much with things he refused to tell her since she's not one to mind every single detail. Whatever she wants to know, she will get it in the end.

"As much as I want to congratulate you on your successful negotiation, there's still a series of thorough tests you must take before we officially sign our contract. Hope you don't complain now~"

As their conversation approaches its end, she reminded the final obstacle he has to pass to make a deal with her. This is also the long test Shirogane had to undergone. Although the youth is ignorant of the purpose of all the examination, its true nature is not something a normal person should have known in the first place. The true goal of it is to determine if one is a Stangna – or Sleeper Agents or not.

Stangna are agents that have a directivity protein that is injected into their body, but have no awareness of it. The protein is called ABS - Artificial Biochemical Substance, that binds to human tissue regardless of means of transmission by injection or oral, which can cause a programmed action to be taken. In her knowledge, it is not a virus, bacteria or Nano machine so there is no immunological system reaction, and is impossible to be discovered unless a special examination is done.

The effect and action can be changed by combining different ABS. They can range from temporary or complete loss of memory, and making one easy to be influenced by suggestions, or by creation poisons that rival the deadliest creatures on earth, and even to cause the body fats to become high explosives. The start key can be set by conditioning as well. This means that the timing and all is fully automated without need for external transmissions, and the assassins would not even know they are one, so cannot be discovered by even the strongest Esper's ability.

Normally, she should have such suspicious man checked with this first before having him so close to her. But her confidence in the Stangna's removal thanks to the Million Euro Man last month convinces her no more should be around. She does not want to admit her agitation of the sudden new unknown making her impatient though

"It certainly sounds tedious, but if it clears any more suspicions you have towards me, that's a small price to pay"

"Good for you, too bad I'm not interested in those younger than me"

"Good for both of us, XO. Since I'm also not interested in those older than me"

Smiling to each other, they acknowledge their own standing. She's now completely confident this new add-on will perform nicely in her own squad. If he responded to provoke her age complexion, however, he have failed miserably since she never thinks about such matters

"Nice try. If you don't have anything more to say, wait outside the door. The Lieutenant will guide you to the test location and your new residence afterward"

"Thank you, Professor Kouzuki Yuuko"

"Don't mind me. But know that I have much in store for you, Second Lieutenant Shishido Shinobu"

Affirming one last nod, she used her hand to express the "shoo, shoo" sign to the Eishi. He smiled wryly and exited the room just like that

—

Seeing the automatic door closed, she immediately threw the gun to her drawer. Never has she imagined she would have to use something so heavy twice at the same day.

Ignoring the strain on her arms, she's thinking once again about how to best use the two personnel she just recruited. One thing on the soldier's condition catches her mind: the condition to keep Shirogane in the dark about his monitoring. This is the standard procedure for anything covert observation, not like she could not agree on this, but her intuition says the reason is not the concern for one's friend. Common sense may deceive her, but her intuition will never do so.

 _Well, not like I care that much anyway_

That's right, as long as the Lieutenant just wants to assist the kid, she can care less for the reason of it. As long as Shirogane acts according to her stimulus, even the Eishi will dance in the palm of her hands as well

"Aye yai yai yai yai…"

Some sounds leaking from outside entered her ears as she's thinking about future actions. Seems like Shishido's leaking some strange form of expression. Judging by the prolonged "yai" word and the tired voice, it should be some kinds of complaining.

 _With this, I should have all the important chess pieces on my board. Two more idiots aboard…no, more like one and a half idiots –_ ignoring the receding visitor, she went back to her own thought

She's chuckling to herself as this thought surfaced. However she is wondering, if the flows of things are starting to change. She feels like all the events are moving from her at the center. Although she does feel wary of the Lieutenant, she is certain the new focus point of all this mess is the first boy she met today.

"What a busy day! Maybe I should change my appointment policy"

Complaining in her own way, Yuuko reached out for the phone without any interruption this time. It's time to inform her friend of the new member to the 207th training cadet squad, and an additional observer.

* * *

 **Author's note:**

Finally I can release my new chapter! As I stated before, the update schedule also depends on my work and past weeks have been hell for me… Anyway, forget about all those! I feel so satisfied finishing this twice-as-long compared to the usual chap so that's a win win situation for me and you readers. And you know what: when I upload last chap, the views almost doubled compared to the 1st one. I'm very happy even if you guys just read my story.

Now for my policy: the three golden rules/strikes/trials, you name it. What it means is that I usually give any kinds of work/movie/comic/manga/anime 3 tries/episode/chaps before deciding whether to pick them up or not. Technically, this is my 3rd chapter, so please decide you're gonna follow my story or not if possible. As I also try to make some very major progress in this chap so that readers find it easier to decide

Speaking of this new release, how do feel like reading an entire chapter in Yuuko's POV? You may already be aware: she knows and thinks a lot, A LOT due to her position. So don't be surprised when reading so much information and analysis. More surprises for you guys, if there's any timelines or things you do not know, chances are they aren't made up by me! Obvious OC stuffs asides, I mix all official stuffs within the few lies so that you will believe everything I wrote is true, then get manipulated by me, Muwahahaha!... Ok, I will at least stop the evil laugh from now on

Well, that's it this time. Thank you for all of your feedbacks on my last chapter, know that I look forward to hearing your thoughts again (Still no swaying my style though, not much that is)


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